Lesson 38 –
On Scriptural Interpretation in General

In order to understand the way in which the Church addresses questions surrounding the Bible’s compatibility with science, we must first consider what “the Bible” is and how we are meant to interpret it.

Let us, then, turn to the teaching of the Church as articulated in her most complete and mature statement on Sacred Scripture, the dogmatic constitution from Vatican II entitled Dei Verbum (Latin for “The Word of God”).

Course Reading

Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum

Excerpt from Dei Verbum (11):

Those divinely revealed realities which are contained and presented in Sacred Scripture have been committed to writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. For holy mother Church, relying on the belief of the Apostles (see John 20:31; 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Peter 1:19-20, 3:15-16), holds that the books of both the Old and New Testaments in their entirety, with all their parts, are sacred and canonical because written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author and have been handed on as such to the Church herself. In composing the sacred books, God chose men and while employed by Him they made use of their powers and abilities, so that with Him acting in them and through them, they, as true authors, consigned to writing everything and only those things which He wanted.

Therefore, since everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit, it follows that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings for the sake of salvation. Therefore "all Scripture is divinely inspired and has its use for teaching the truth and refuting error, for reformation of manners and discipline in right living, so that the man who belongs to God may be efficient and equipped for good work of every kind" (2 Tim. 3:16-17, Greek text).

Course Listening

The Bible as Revealed Truth and its Relationship To Rational Thought | Fr. Jordan Schmidt, O.P.

Verbum Domini: The Catholic Approach to Scripture | Prof. Boyd Taylor Coolman